Stephen King Why We Crave Horror Movies Essay

There are two types of people in this world, those who watch in awe as a man on the big screen slashes the teenage girl’s throat, and those who quiver and hide behind their seat in fear. Stephen King states in essay, “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” that no matter the type of person, everyone feels the need to watch horror movies. According to King, the reasons why people watch horror movies can range from simply thinking that the movies are fun, to expressing feelings that people cannot express in real life. While many people may argue that the horror genre is not for everyone, King makes compelling claims that everyone needs a way to let out negative emotions that comes with the human condition. To begin with, most people go to horror movies in order to feel better about themselves. There are many ways that horror movies can help people feel better about how they are and act. King explains that even though people may compare themselves to hideous figures “we are still light-years from true ugliness” (1). King uses an example of a horrible disembodied figure in order to show that people could look worse. Horror movies tend to have gruesome characters, like a twisted clown from the movie “It” or even a burnt man that runs through children’s

People have absurd thoughts all the time, it could be different things like wanting to hurt someone or saying cruel words to the person, however horror movies help us to “re-establish our feelings of essential normality” (King 1). The things in horror movies are worse than the things that most people think, the horror movies are showing people that everyone thinks these kinds of thoughts. Since everyone feels like they are the only ones that have these thoughts, the comfort in knowing that other people also share the same feelings will give someone the feeling of